Bearing cage



J. E. SHAFER.

BEARING CAGE.

FILED Nov. 23, 1921.

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BEARJING, CAGE.

Fpplicaton led. -Illov'ember- 23, 1921. Serial No. 517,197.

v To all whom. it may concern.'

Be it known that l, JULIUS E. SHAFER, -a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and usefullmprovements in Bearing Cages, of

which the following is a full, clear, and eX-f act description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, formlng part of" this specification. f

My invention relatesy more particularly to cages for roller bearings, the cage being that portion of the bearlng which carries the rolling elements and by means of which they are handled as a unit and maintained in proper spaced relation while in service,

though it is capable of use Vfor a variety of other purposes such as will be apparent to those skilled in'the art to which my invention appertains.

Une object of my invention is the pro- `vision of a cage inwhic-h the rolling ele.

ments'of the bearings are mounted and spac- Ving the rolling elements apart in the 'cage iby spacing members which are loosely mounted 1n the structure though held y against removal, the whole structure being such that when assembled, and mounted for operation, the mounting needs no running in7 to free theY rolling elements.

Another object of my invention is to coustruct and arrange the parts forming the cage so that it will form a lubricantreservoir and feeding mechanism of relatively great capacity. A

@ther ob'ects of my invention Awill appear and be described in the specification. p 'lhe novelty of my invention will be here'- inafter vmore lfully set forth and specifically pointed out in the claims. ln the accompanying drawing:

Fig.v 1 is a side view of a cage, patly broken away, and. showing my invention incorporated in its structure. Y

Fig. 2 is a sectional edge View of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3, is a perspective view of one of the spacingelements employed in a structure such as shown in Figs.. 1 and 2.

Fig.v 4c, is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 showing a cage and roller wherein the roller is mounted 'at an angle to the axis of the bearing and is concavesurfaced.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a spacing velement such` as would be used in a struc ture like that shown in Fig. 4:.

The same numerals of reference are used to indicate identical parts in all the figures.

Referring more particularly to' Figs. l, 2, andl 3, the cage comprises the barrel portion 1 provided with flanges 2 and 3, the face of the barrel portion being perforated as at 2l to permit the rolling elements 5 to pro-ject through the cage and contact with the outer race ring. A separating element 6 is mounted between each pair of rolling elements 5, the separatin element being shown in perspective in Fig. 3 "and consisting of the end portion 7 and the wings 8, the latter being slightly curved as shown more clearly at 9, Fig. 1, to conform to the curvature of the rolling elements 5.

The side flanges 2 and 3 of the cage are 'inwardly turned as .at 10 to embrace the wings 8 to hold the lspacing elements against moving inward radially, though the inwardly `turned portions 10 of the flanges 2 and 3 do not engage the spacing elements so tightly as to prevent their movn` ing from contact with one roller to con@ tact with its adjoining roller, the rollers, as well as'the spacing element, being given sufficient clearance so that all of the rollers may act properly in the assembled bearing without being bound by any -of thespaing elements. f l

ln a structure such as shown in Figs.v l and 5. the barrel portion 11 of the cage is cone-shaped and provided with thei flanges curved in cross section as' shown,and the rollers '14 being preferably ball ended. The' sepan'ati-ng element used with suchl a struc- ...ture is shown in perspective in Fig. 5 and cpmprises the portion 15 carrying a pair of curved'` wings 16, these wingsbeing curved dnot only to conform to the "diametral curvature of the' roller, but to its longi tudinal curvature as well,vthe wings 16 being brought nearly or quite in contact .with each other at one end of thespacing element, though being spaced. apart at the other end a sufficient' distance to accommo.

date the increasing distancey between the rollers due to their conical mounting. rl`he spacing element of Fig. 5 is held in the cage of Fig. Llby the curved flanges .12 and13, the ends of the spacing element being of suitable contour to be engaged by the flanges 12 and 13.

ln this structure, as well as in that pre- In'faddit1on,';the' structure When assemi'ble'dy is'lsuchftha't fall ofv the rolling ele- "ments of the' bearing are `free to find their ``proper l position infthe 'bearing assembly,

.and further that'a cage constructed as above describe/d," having' thel barrel portion adjacentV thelarger diameter-thereof will carry f a relatively large amount of lubricant Which i will be 1fed to the rolling elements gradually l'While thebearing is in service.

"Having ythus fully "described my invention, I' claim:

1. Al bearing cage comprising a barrel portion 'provided with flanges and apertures, rolling elements projecting through the apertures for contact .with a bearing race, and the spacing elements loosely| mounted between, the rolling elements and the flanges of the cage.

2. VA bearing cage comprising a barrel portion provided With flanges and perforations, rolling elements between the flanges and projecting through the perforations for contact With a bearing race, spacing elcments loosely mountedbetween the rolling elements andthe flanges Aof the cao-e and held against removal by the cage anges.

3. In a bearing cage the combination of a pair of sideflanges connected together at their outer diameteis by a barrel portion, struck up sheet metal spacing elements our ried between the flanges and opening toward the axis of the cage thereby forming lubricant reservoirs as Well as rolling element spacers.

JULIUS E. SHAFER. 

